Choose Your Friends!

Growing up we were taught to choose wisely the people we wanted to be our friends, as who we associated with will say a lot about who we are. Sticking to this wasn’t always the case or easy, as most of us wanted to be among the popular crowd, didn’t want to get bullied so we joined the notorious bad guys in school and in the street, we wanted to be called out among the rich and mighty, many others just wanted to fit in and it didn’t matter what anyone has to say, etc.

Walt Whitman – “Tell me who your friends are, and I will tell you who you are.”. The truth is that our friends are those who bring out the best in us. If you run with wolves, you will learn to howl, but if you move with eagles, you will learn how to soar to great heights. Proverbs 27:19″ A mirror reflects a man’s face, but what he is really like is shown by the kind of friends he chooses”.

The simple but true facts of life is that you become like those with whom you closely associate with both for the good and the bad. Let’s think about it for a while ; almost all of our sorrows spring out of relation-ships with the wrong people.

Piper E. K- “Keep out of the suction caused by those who drift backwards. The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve trust me. You don’t need everybody, you just need the right people. Any time you indulge mediocrity in others it increases your own mediocrity. A Bulgarian proverb confirms, “If you find yourself taking two steps forward and one step backwards, invariably its because you have mixed associations in your life.” If a loafer isn’t a nuisance to you, it’s a sign that you are somewhat of a loafer yourself.

My lecturer – Dr. Falako would always say” An important attribute in successful is their Impatience with people who think and act negatively.”Misery would always desire your company, but you don’t have to let it in the door. Proverbs 13:20 tells us” He that walks with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed”.

We become like those with whom we associate. I encourage us to be careful of the kind of insulation we use in our lives. We do need to insulate ourselves from negative people and ideas, but we should never insulate ourselves from godly counsel and wisdom. It is far better to be alone than in the wrong company. A single conversation with the right person can be more valuable than years of study.